Hotline Miami is an indie game developed by Dennaton Games. The publisher of Hotline Miami is Devolver Digital. The game was released in October 2012.
At first glance, Hotline Miami seems like a typical low-budget 2D top-down shooter, but that's just the surface. You play as a deranged character who declares war on numerous criminal gangs and syndicates in a paradise-like location called Miami. Who he is, where he comes from, and what he does is not very clear, and at first, it even feels like there isn't much of a story in Hotline Miami. However, that's not the case. The narrative twists begin to engage you from the first third of the game, and the closer you get to the end, the more interesting it becomes. Over time, you start to realize that the main character is not your typical "super-hero-crime-fighter", but a real psychopath who goes berserk at the sight of blood. For intimidation, he wears masks of various animals, which also grant him certain bonuses. In fighting enemies, he uses various types of both firearms and melee weapons.
As is customary, the game features a lot of blood, deaths, and dismemberment, and if you decide to check out Hotline Miami, you will have to confront real brutality. Numerous enemies roam the locations, and all of them unleash buckets of that very red liquid upon their demise. Interestingly, almost all enemies can be killed with a single shot or hit. But this apparent ease is deceptive, as the opponents have good reflexes, and they very rarely walk alone. The masked hero, in turn, dies with enviable regularity—he has no advantages in strength, agility, or speed.
The entire gameplay in Hotline Miami, essentially, is based on abruptly rushing out from around a corner and shooting/slashing/battering/slitting an enemy before they have a chance to respond. Some opponents patrol corridors, others sit in front of the television, and some are engaged in other activities—therefore, each time you need to come up with a new tactic for a deadly and swift attack. Should you burst into the room and shoot everyone in a single burst? Or provoke an alarm and stand by the door, gripping a deadly katana? The player must decide all this on their own, but it should be noted right away that dying in Hotline Miami will happen often, very often. And the issue here is not with clunky controls but with the genuine hardcore nature of the project—almost every mistake leads to death.